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Author: La Monda

They say, they gossip, that Microsoft is going to make to his fantastic, nostalgic and borbonic (’cause he looks like the inbred outcome of two far cousins) Paint programme what common sense did to blu-ray; erase it from History taking with it afternoons, presentations and 3rd grade essay titles full of fun and cognitive and eye suffering.

We don’t know if it’s true, if, while stroking a white cat, Bill Gates will throw away one of the last reminders of our pre-Adobe childhood. A whole generation started there; maybe Umberto Daina did too. This Italian 3D master, graphic designer and filmmaker, belongs to a world that is sweet and disturbing; it’s like that 2007 trend of pink skulls, but with nothing to do with it, exactly. His hairy figures, flying sprays, his pinks and blues convince us that the future, at least, looks nice.

When we speak about the Arab world, a lot of cliché images come up to our minds: burkas, Aladdin, kebabs, Lawrence of Arabia, yihad, Daesh, camels, moustaches in turbans, flying carpets and more Daesh. Not much more finds space in our concept of “arabesque”.

But, what happens when a Southafrican and a Puertorican travel to Doha (Qatar) and decide to demolish all the Oriental archetypes that Occident media show us? That’s how the work by Christto Sanz and Andrew Weir is born; kitsch photography of ladies in jilbabs in soap opera actress pose and drinking Coke in the middle of the dessert. An african-puertorican look that talks about the malleability of identity and the mix of East/West cultures in such a globalized word. Sand pop under the view of two geniuses; death to the bland Eastern archetype, long live to the baklava flavoured party!

Fitting in was never easy; the human being was born to live in society in the same extend it was born to be rejected by it. Like the weird shaped Tetris piece that ruins your game, sometimes we can not avoid feeling that mental itch that makes us question what are we exactly doing in that birthday party where everybody speaks Spanish and you don’t even know who the celebrated one is.

Polly Penrose wants to fit in in the world. That’s how “Body of Work” could be described; a project of self portraits and nudism where Penrose interacts with every object, space, curtain or chair she finds on her way. The self-timer and the possibility of bruising is this London based photographer’s bread and butter. Polly Penrose embodies plasticity and intrigue in 10 seconds of magic.

In every primary school classroom there’s always a kid in the last row, being all shy and picking his nose, nibbling on the eraser or his own tshirt collar and that goes into 404 Error everytime he hears “Physical Education”. This kids are usually the “freaks” and they get to extreme conducts in their adulthood due to their uniqueness: they turn into KKK members, drug addicts or in geniuses.

We’re not sure if Clayton Cubitt was one of the weird ones chewing his shoelaces, but it’s obvious witnessing his work that he’s a genius. Nudes behind curtains, albinos, horse-women fashion shootings or a whole book dedicated to Die Antwoord are some of the ingredients that feed the imagery of this more than well known American photographer. Going on his web is a references slap on the face. Clayton Cubitt, you’re entering the La Monda Olympus!

Besides having the coolest name, thing that we love, Melchor Bocanegra has won our hearts with his “Pink Ladies” series in which we portrays characters in that dirty-pastel-rotten-pink wonderful colour. Here we can see a completely new modality of fishmongers cheap bling, ladies painted like hoes and a sort of Virgin Mary crying what it looks like milk. You know which one of the Three Wise Men we’re choosing, right?

After hours watching how the rocket was waiting to launch, the moment arrived; we were able to see what Primavera Sound 2016 was going to be. One more time, there are as many reactions as personalities. There’s the one that shouts and celebrates, the one that doesn’t really know what to say and the typical “well it could be better, right?” guy. In my case, I got three big questions: why did we doubt PXXR GVNG were going to be there? Why didn’t I check Grimes’s agenda before dreaming of watch her live at Fórum? And, above all: why aren’t Los Chichos one of the headliners?

We’ll criticise the band mash up, we’ll state who’s missing and then we’ll spend the next months trying to listen to some of the artists to make us like them and not have to re-sell our pass. I recommend you one: NAO, probably the name that thrilled me the most to read. The most informed ones will recognize her as the vocalist (and composer) of “Superego”, song included in Caracal, last album by Disclosure. But the truth is that this English girl was already causing expectation with her first two EPs, thanks to which the media and their recurring rankings can’t avoid placing her as one of the up and coming names of this year that has just begun. Nao is cool. Real soul, no pretending, with a feeling but electronic and from the city. Nao is cool and we’re gonna watch her live.

The infinite scroll of Tumblr or Pinterest are just evil vice, specially when you’ve got a thousand million mails to answer and you can’t be less bothered. Having a look at your phone is a synonym for going on Instagram and the same happens with Tinder and Jonpaul Douglass’s webpage; it’s impossible to stop going down and wanting more and more and more. This LA photographer enchanted us months ago with this “Pizza In The Wild” series, but this time we’ve also fallen in love with his still life and sense of humour. Jonpaul likes dogs, dinosaurs, Nintendo and coffee. And we like him.

We’re gonna try not to bother you with the pre-Sónar excitement we feel; for the moment, we’re only going to offer you a sneak peek. You well know our year begins in mid-June, specifically when we start dancing with a couple of beers already inside our hot bodies in the Sónar by day area. Well, beloved readers, the countdowns begins; the very famous electronic music festival has announced 40 more artists for this year’s edition and our eyes are already sparkling (not for the meat delights of the video). To the already confirmed Anohni, John Grant, New Order, The Black Madona and Skepta, now we got new names on the list, such as, watch out, Jean-Michel Jarre, Bob Moses, James Blake, Jamie Woon, Club Cheval, Kelela, Flume… And Four Tet and Laurent Garnier djing for the stunning amount of 7 hours. We got the shakes already.

Metz + Racine = lots of style and knowing how to spectacularly compose images. We wish maths were this easy to understand at school and they’ve forgotten about how many watermelons Peter was carrying. Metz + Racine, this still life masters, play with volumes, colours and shapes achieving amazing sets that allow their advertising campaigns to be another sum with a more than elegant result. With their meticulousness, they make our minds wander when watching that hand carrying the Chanel nº5 perfume and our brains to get drunk in excitement just by witnessing that champagne bottle. This is pure class, all the rest is just impossible equations.